All types of sunglasses online at your fingertips. FramesDirect.com is the premium online sunglasses store for educated, upscale consumers globally. Unlike overpriced brick-and-mortar retailers and online competitors who focus on discounts, FramesDirect.com delivers the best quality high end sunglasses and a superb customer service experience, but at reasonable online prices.

What are the best sunglasses? Quality is our number one concern, especially when it comes to sunglasses, which are so vital to eye health. FramesDirect.com only sells designer sunwear, offering the largest selection of premium products available online.

As a company founded by eye doctors, FramesDirect.com was the first and remains the only online eyewear retailer that is staffed by certified opticians. In fact, the customer service phone center is staffed entirely by expert opticians, who are available to answer your questions 6 days a week.

Buying Sunglasses Online: Setting the Standard for Quality

The FramesDirect.com quality standard begins when we select only the best sunglasses to feature on our site. Virtually every designer who makes a high-end sunglass product is represented here.

Whether you're in the market for classic shades, like aviators or wayfarers, or new trends in sunglasses, such as foldable frames or patterned lenses, we carry the designer brands you have grown to love.

If you're an athlete looking for the best eye protection for outdoor sports, FramesDirect.com offers a number of popular, high-tech sun shades with performance-enhancing, sport-specific features, such as specially tinted or polarized lenses and sweat-resistant, non-slip ear pieces.

Our demanding sunglass evaluation process has several steps. We will only consider top brands that are well designed and will please customers with regards to both comfort and style. In addition, all of our sunglasses follow best practice manufacturing standards.

FramesDirect.com only sells the best sunnies available on the market today. We keep up with advances in sunglass technology and always strive to offer our customers the best options. For that reason, we offer the highest-caliber sunglasses, with options like polarized lenses and UV-blocking gray and brown tints.

Take the Extra Step with "Sun Glasses"

The sun's rays, though beautiful and warming, can also be harmful to your skin and your eyes. Not only can the rays lead to eye disease, but the sun's glare can also cause distractions while driving, working, and participating in sports. Along with sunscreen, sunglasses are the most vital element for shielding yourself from the sun.

Sunglasses block UV radiation and protect vital parts of the eye. By regularly wearing shades, you can reduce the UV rays that reach your cornea. Lucky for you, shopping for sunglasses online is easier than ever at FramesDirect.com. Sun shades are sold at most retail outlets, but for the best selection, you should shop online.

Also, if you are embarking on a sport like skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, crew rowing, boating or fishing, you'll need top-quality, impact-resistant, high-end sunglasses that your local drugstore just may not carry. The best eye protection for these activities are going to be designed by a reputable manufacturer like Oakley, Maui Jim, or Costa, not some throwaway brand you can pick up in the local drugstore. And remember, always look for the 100% UV protection label and impact-resistant lenses.

Top Designer Sunglass Brands

Where to buy top designer sunglasses online, you ask? Right here at the top sunglasses website! At FramesDirect.com you will find over 2,500 sunglasses options to choose from in a plethora of styles, shapes, tints, and colors. If you're having trouble deciding which sun glasses are right for your lifestyle or your face shape, you can pick up the phone and call 1-800-248-9427 to have one of the FramesDirect.com certified opticians help you with placing your order.

As 20/20 Magazine states, "Like cars, new technology in eyewear helps to create today's smart sunglasses." FramesDirect.com continually adds new brands and the latest sunglass styles to keep pace with new technology. Unlike sunglasses of old, today's sunnies use advanced filtering techniques to protect your eyes from sunlight, as well as use new materials to make frames and lenses safer, stronger, and more comfortable.

Consider going online and stocking up on a variety of top sun glasses in different shapes and styles to suit all of your varying needs, and then keeping them near your front door. That way, saving your eyes from harm just takes that one little extra step before your walk out the door -- putting on your shades!

The History of Sunglasses

Sunglasses have a long and varied history. According to the site Glasses History, "the earliest historical reference to sunglasses dates back to ancient Rome. The Roman emperor Nero watched gladiator fights through polished gems." All the better to see the brutal action.

We know that people wore sunglasses in China in the 12th century. These early shades simply had flat panes of smoky quartz for the lenses. Their main benefit was to protect the eyes from the sun's glare. But there is also antique paperwork that describes the judges in Chinese courts wearing these quartz crystal sunglasses to hide their facial expressions whenever they questioned a witness.

Cut to 1752, when James Ayscough started experimenting with tinted lenses. He hypothesized that blue or green tinted glass might help correct some vision problems in his customers.

In the next century, brown and amber tints were prescribed at this time for people with syphilis. (One of the symptoms of syphilis is sensitivity to light.) Still, these weren't proper "sunglasses" as we know them today, because they did nothing to protect eyes from UV rays.

The Museum of Vision notes that sunglasses became popular in Europe and the U.S. in the 1930s. Despite the fact that tinted lenses were available earlier, it took until 1913 for Sir William Crookes of England to create the first UV-protective sunglasses. Sir Crookes invented a lens that could absorb ultraviolet and infrared light -- and the modern sunglass was born.

When World War II began in 1939, there was an increased demand for practical and functional sunglasses for military soldiers and pilots. Because of this upturn in production and the "cool" factor of pilots, manufacturers began to market sunglasses to the everyday consumer.

Sunglass Customer Testimonials

Trey S / Orlando, Florida

I recently ordered lenses for my oakleys from you, and I was very satisfied with the entire transaction as it was quick and I was contacted not just by email but by phone by an actual person. So I was very much willing to come right back just a few weeks later to buy the costa sunglasses I have wanted for some time now. Thank you very much. You guys are awesome and I have already suggested you to many people! And I am moving away to college soon so I will send all my friends your way who want glasses as here in Florida they are a must. Thanks again

S. B., / San Francisco, Albania

Just want to THANK YOU for such wonderful service. Absolutely LOVE my new DKNY sunglasses!

Elizabeth S. / Auckland, Florida

Dear Frames Direct -
My daughter had seen a gorgeous pair of Guess sunglasses in Auckland, NZ that she really wanted me to buy her and put away for Christmas (it's only May!), however they were very expensive, so I happened, very fortunately, upon your website and ordered the same sunglasses for $120 cheaper! They arrived in perfect condition one week later. Amazing service, thank you.
Now I have to figure out how to keep them hidden for another 7 months and hope to goodness that she doesn't change her mind in the meantime!!
Many thanks again.